Activists breach Argentina nuke plant

BUENOS AIRES – Some 40 Greenpeace activists were arrested inside an atomic power plant in Argentina on Monday at a protest on the second anniversary of the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan, the group said.

The protesters “were beaten and detained after entering the Embalse nuclear facility in Cordoba” some 700 km northeast of Buenos Aires, a Greenpeace statement said.

It said the group had hoped to underscore the dangers of nuclear power, two years after a magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the Tohoku region, damaging the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and resulting in three core meltdowns.

Media reports said that once inside the Argentine plant, the protesters unfurled a huge banner that read, “Nuclear Danger Must End.” The activists mocked the security at the site, saying they encountered little difficulty in getting inside the facility to hold their demonstration.